Season-ending injury again thwarts Georgia Southern seventh-year linebacker Bradley-Glenn
STATESBORO — The plague of injuries that has marred Todd Bradley-Glenn's football career appears to have no bounds.
The Georgia Southern inside linebacker will miss the rest of this season with a knee injury requiring surgery, head coach Clay Helton said Monday. Bradley-Glenn, a seventh-year player, already was sidelined two games because of a dislocated elbow and returned to action Saturday at Georgia State, only to suffer the knee injury on the first series of the second half.
In parts of four games for the Eagles (3-3, 0-2 Sun Belt Conference), he has 10 solo tackles, nine assisted tackles, one tackle for loss and one quarterback hurry. Bradley-Glenn is a team co-captain and the quarterback of the defense as the mike linebacker relaying the play call to teammates.
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Helton used the word "unfortunate" when announcing the knee injury, which follows the player's personal history of adversity.
"Thanks to Todd for all that he has meant for this program and still does," Helton said. "He's a warrior. I've never seen a young man handle an injury like that with class and toughness and pride and just being who he is, and more worried about his team than his own self. That's who he is."
Helton also said that cornerback Derrick Canteen, who missed last Saturday's game at Georgia State, continues to go through concussion protocol. The coach left open the possibility of Canteen returning for the home game at 4 p.m. Saturday against No. 25 James Madison at Paulson Stadium.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound redshirt junior — a Freshman All-America defensive back in 2020 who missed nearly all of the 2021 season due to a pectoral muscle injury — has in five games collected 21 solo tackles, four assists, one tackle for loss and four pass breakups.
The defense also is without redshirt senior Quin Williams (6-3, 270), whose size and athleticism make him impactful at both defensive end and linebacker. He also missed the game at Georgia State, a 41-33 loss in Sun Belt action.
"Quin, unfortunately, has a blood clot, which is his second blood clot," Helton said. "While he's here, he's going to be placed on blood thinners. That will hold him out for a significant period of time. Don't know the exact future, don't have a crystal ball on that, but it will be an extended period of time."
Williams in five games has six solo tackles, 12 assists, 1.5 TFL, one sack, two pass breakups and two quarterback hurries.
Bradley-Glenn's star-crossed career
While a standout football player at Valdosta High, Bradley-Glenn had surgery to remove scar tissue on his right shoulder. Doctors also discovered that he had developed a rare form of skin cancer: Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans. This is a type of soft tissue sarcoma, which are cancers that affect skin, fat and muscle tissues.
Bradley-Glenn didn't give up on his dreams, including football, and underwent three more surgeries to remove the cancer. He missed the first six games of his senior season at Valdosta but returned and helped the team get to the second round of the state playoffs.
A three-star recruit ranked in the top 100 outside linebackers in the country and 130 players in Georgia by national recruiting services, Bradley-Glenn stayed in his home state and came to Statesboro.
His college career has featured highs of academic honors in the classroom and lows of multiple season-ending football injuries.
• His first season of 2016 lasted four games until he tore his ACL prior to the Arkansas State contest and missed the remainder of the schedule. He was granted a medical hardship waiver and earned the year back. He also made the Dean's List in the spring.
• He played in all 12 games with three starts in 2017, recording 25 total tackles, five TFL and one sack. He made the Honor Roll in the fall.
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• He played in just three games (starting two) in 2018, when he suffered two different injuries. The first happened at a preseason practice and led to his meniscus removed. He sat out the season opener, then played in the next three games before a season-ending injury to his other knee. His game total allowed him to redshirt the season under a new NCAA rule. He also made Honor Roll for a grade-point average above 3.0.
• Bradley-Glenn played a full season in 2019, when he appeared in all 13 games and made 19 tackles, including one-half sack. The academic standout made the Honor Roll in both the fall and spring semesters and was selected to the 2019-20 Sun Belt Conference Academic Honor Roll for maintaining a 3.00-3.49 GPA.
• Another full season followed in 2020 with four starts over all 13 games, when he totaled 24 tackles including 1.5 TFL. The NCAA's COVID-19 eligibility waiver allowed him to come back for a sixth football season.
He also legally changed his name to Todd Bradley-Glenn in December 2020 to honor his stepfather James Glenn.
• An arm injury knocked him out of the 2021 season before it started. The 6-foot, 230-pounder torn his left biceps muscle during the first scrimmage of the fall. He stayed around the team to lead and mentor the younger players. He also decided to return for a seventh year through a medical hardship waiver.
He again made the Dean's List for the fall and spring for a GPA higher than 3.50.
Bradley-Glenn said this fall that after earning one bachelor's degree in marketing, he's now working on a second degree in construction management. He also hosts his own podcast and is the owner of the Bradley-Glenn Construction Company.
Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Southern football linebacker Todd Bradley-Glenn out for season
